Eight organisers of the controversial ‘beef festival’, planned to be held at the Osmania University campus, were detained, while BJP MLA T Raja Singh, who was opposing the the event, was arrested this morning.
A video has surfaced showing the students eating beef at a media conference.
There are reports of heavy police deployment at the university and the main entrance has been closed.
Assistant Commissioner of Police K Ram Bhupal Rao said the police had also arrested Singh, a BJP MLA from Goshamahal, as a preventive measure to maintain law and order. The legislator had vowed to stop the ‘beef festival’ and also announced that he along with other groups would perform a “Gau Puja” (cow worship) today.
As a precaution, Geetanjili School next to the university campus was also closed. Students were reportedly seen leaving the school early after a holiday was declared.
Amid mounting tension at the Osmania University campus over the proposed festival by some students’ groups and a counter pork festival and ‘Gau Maata’ puja by their rivals, the Hyderabad police had decided to withhold permission for the events last Friday.
The Hyderabad High Court today directed the organisers of the proposed `beef festival’ as well as the Osmania University management to maintain “status quo”, staying the holding of the festival. A bench of acting Chief Justice D B Bhosle and Justice S V Bhatt passed the order in response to a writ petition filed by K Raju complaining that the festival may trigger widespread violence on the University campus.
Singh had earlier accused the student group of “trying to play political games to derive political mileage” by organising the festival.
(With agency inputs)
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